IN RESPONSE to your article 'Air Ambulance call out criticised' (July 24), it is not true to say that the Air Ambulance was used because there was no land ambulance available.

IN RESPONSE to your article 'Air Ambulance call out criticised' (July 24), it is not true to say that the Air Ambulance was used because there was no land ambulance available.

Our highly skilled community paramedic was first on the scene. The patient had sustained serious head injuries and needed specialist treatment quickly. So the community paramedic made a clinical decision to use the Air Ambulance for transport rather than a land ambulance.

The article also mentions a road traffic collision in June. Again it is not true to say that the Air Ambulance was called despite only one person needing treatment for a cut to the face. Our 999 call taker was told that one patient was not moving and two people were trapped following the collision. The Air Ambulance was dispatched immediately on the basis of this initial information. At the scene, paramedics assessed the situation and determined that a land ambulance could transport the patient to hospital for further treatment and that is what happened.

The use of the Air Ambulance is determined on clinical need. It helps us respond to a wide range of emergencies and by the very nature of air travel, helps us transport seriously ill or injured patients to hospital much quicker than a land ambulance. In many cases this can be the difference between life and death.

Every second counts and we will always request the Air Ambulance if there is a belief that this specialist service is needed. Our qualified staff make clinical decisions about the care that patients need - casual bystanders and reporters do not have the requisite skills to say what kind of care is needed in any given incident.